Communities

Yesterday on Old Bond Street you may have noticed an unfamiliar pink glow emanating from one of the street's most imposing buildings. We are pleased to reassure you that it wasn't as a result of extra-terrestrial happenings or an invasion of pink glow worms but rather it was in honor of Ralph Lauren's annual Pink Pony campaign for cancer research.

For the coming week Ralph Lauren stores worldwide will be illuminated in pink to celebrate the launch of the label's Pink Pony collection of products - available in store. It is a cause close to the man himself.

"I have been dedicated to the fight against cancer for more than fifteen years," Ralph Lauren explained. "The Pink Pony Fund marks my commitment to this important cause."

20 per cent of the price of each product from the range sold in the UK goes to The Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign to ensure that cancer can be treated earlier and more effectively across all communities.

New York Fashion Week saved some of its biggest names for last, with American designers Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger all showing their spring/summer 2010 collections on the final day yesterday.

Ralph Lauren, who turns 70 next month, unveiled a fantasy farm-girl look based on all-American blue denim workwear, accessorised with sparkling dainty shoes. Models walked down the catwalk to the sounds of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan wearing stone-washed ripped jeans, denim overalls and flowery, country-style dresses. Blue remained the dominant colour on the runway when the workwear gave way to eveningwear, with cornflower-blue silk gowns.

Lauren said he had been inspired by America's frontier spirit in designing his anti-recession collection. "I have always loved real working clothes... I am inspired by the character of the worker, the farmer, the cowboy, the pioneer women of the prairies living authentically through challenging times". At the end of the show, Lauren, himself dressed in a pale denim shirt, stopped to kiss Janet Jackson who was sitting in the front row.

It may be for Ralph Lauren, but could these images of Kelly Brook technically be called a fashion shoot if it didn't feature any clothes? Newly released images of the former Strictly Come Dancing star show her posing with nothing more than a pale pink hydrangea branch for the U.S. designer. With tousled hair and sultry pout, the model, now 29, flaunted the figure for which she would become famous as presenter on The Big Breakfast alongside Johnny Vaughan. But why the images from the shoot did not feature any clothes remains unclear. Perhaps Ralph Lauren had a little-known sideline in floristry, or maybe the stylist forgot to pack the products. Further images from the set showed Kelly in a sports bra and briefs set.

Ralph Lauren was not the only major brand to have spotted Kelly's potential so early on. Fosters and Renault also employed her for campaigns, while Triumph commissioned a special 5-foot billboard of her bust. It was not long before a career in television beckoned, and as well as The Big Breakfast, Kelly presented Celebrity Love Island, as well as appearing in U.S. series Smallville and British film School for Seduction. Kelly is among a host of female stars to have posed in their heels this week in a bid to raise money to fund research into women's health issues. Along with Amanda Holden and Tess Daly, Kelly donned her favourite shoes for a sexy photo shoot to launch the Heels that Heal campaign.

Famous faces including Kylie Minogue, Cheryl Cole and the Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown will also be delving into their shoe closet for an Ebay auction of stars' stilettos. People will also be able to bid for a series of exciting experiences including afternoon tea with Rachel Stevens or a shopping trip with Ms Holden. The auctioneers hope to raise £500,000 to help young women dealing with chronic gynaecological issues like PMS (Pre-menstrual syndrome), endometriosis and PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) women who are suffering from ovarian and cervical cancer and women determined to get pregnant and have a healthy baby.

Hard times. The Great Recession we're all living through got Ralph Lauren thinking about American resiliency. "I am inspired by the character of the worker, the farmer, the cowboy, the pioneer women of the prairies," he wrote in his program notes. So in place of the polo fields or any of his other tony stomping grounds, Lauren took us back to the dust bowl for Spring. Models in newsboy caps wore faded and torn oversize jeans with blue work shirts; patchwork overalls; nightshirts in mattress-ticking stripes; or sweet calico print dresses with white ankle socks and oxfords with heels.

It was cinematic, like most of Lauren's collections. And it goes without saying that his vision is a romanticized one: Henry Fonda's character in The Grapes of Wrath didn't carry a lizard-skin bag. In fact, the show played like a rags-to-riches tale, a story line dear to the designer's heart. After a few white cotton organdy dresses and some thirties-esque suits—think pinstriped three-pieces with cropped and gathered pants or a boxy d.b. with fuller trousers—the work jackets and carpenter pants reappeared in blue ombré silk charmeuse, the nightshirts came striped with beads, and the overalls were transformed into a floor-grazing lamé dress. A pair of evening jeans, completely covered in silvery beads save for the fraying holes, took the concept to the limit.

When Lauren came out for his bow, it was to the tune of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone." He'll see the other side of this recession—no one works harder than he does; he's the great American brand.

Blake Lively visits the Ralph Lauren Store on Bleecker Street as part of Fashion’s Night Out on Thursday night (September 10) in New York City.

The 22-year-old Gossip Girl actress and boyfriend Penn Badgley recently shared a romantic brunch at NYC’s Five Points. An eyewitness told People that Penn was “very doting” and even walked Blake to the bathroom at the end of their meal. The two left the restaurant arm-in-arm.